Leon Sirois

Leon Duray "Jigger" Sirois (born April 16, 1935) is a former American racing driver.

Though he never qualified for the Indianapolis 500, Sirois is most known in racing circles for events surrounding his qualifying attempt in 1969. He took to the track on Pole Day and achieved a speed of 161.535 mph before his qualifying attempt was called off by his car owner (who thought the speed was not fast enough to make the race). Shortly afterwards, it began to rain, and qualifying was washed out. If Sirois had completed his qualification attempt, he would have won the pole (as the race's slowest qualifier's speed of 160.851 mph was not enough to bump Sirois). However, he made two more unsuccessful qualifying attempts and did not make the field. After that he came back to attempt to make the field every year up until 1975, failing to make the field every time. Outside of the Indy 500, he made 10 other starts in USAC Championship Car racing. His best finish was 5th place at Phoenix International Raceway in 1969.

Sirois is the son of former Indy 500 mechanic Frenchy Sirois, who worked on the cars of Lee Wallard, Sam Hanks, and Jimmy Bryan. Jigger is named after driver Leon Duray.

Indy 500 results

External links

* [http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/SiroisJigger.htm Jigger Sirois at ChampCarStats.com]
* [http://www.indy500.com/news/story.php?story_id=4592 Hard-Luck 'Jigger' Has No Regrets, Enjoys New Qualifying Format]